In my case the problem arises when I unload the driver and then try to load it again. After the error dmesg states the possible cause:
[ 966.030549] NVRM: API mismatch: the client has the version 390.116, but NVRM: this kernel module has the version 384.130. Please NVRM: make sure that this kernel module and all NVIDIA driver NVRM: components have the same version.
Just upgraded from Ubuntu 16 to 18.04.
In my case the problem arises when I unload the driver and then try to load it again. After the error dmesg states the possible cause:
[ 966.030549] NVRM: API mismatch: the client has the version 390.116, but
NVRM: this kernel module has the version 384.130. Please
NVRM: make sure that this kernel module and all NVIDIA driver
NVRM: components have the same version.